Experts: Translated Toyota Memo Shows Electronic Acceleration Concern [View all]

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Source: CNN

Experts: Translated Toyota memo shows electronic acceleration concern

By David Fitzpatrick and Drew Griffin, CNN Special Investigations Unit
updated 8:11 PM EST, Thu March 1, 2012

A rash of reports of sudden, unintended accelerations led to a massive recall of more than 8 million Toyota vehicles in 2010.

Washington (CNN) -- Toyota engineers found an electronic software problem that caused "sudden unintended acceleration" in a test vehicle during pre-production trials, according to a company engineering document obtained by and translated for CNN.

The 2006 document, marked "confidential," recounted the results of an adaptive cruise-control software test in a model internally designated the 250L, a vehicle later sold as the Lexus 460 in Japan and Europe. The document says a "fail-safe overhaul" would be needed for another model in production, internally designated the 180L, which the company says was later sold as a Toyota Tundra.

Toyota insists that the document shows no such thing, and it continues to deny that any sudden unintended acceleration in any of its vehicles was caused by electronic systems. But three translations of the report, including two commissioned by CNN after Toyota's objections, found that engineers raised concerns that the adaptive cruise control system would start the car moving forward on its own.

Read the original document and English translations here
"The cruise control activates by itself at full throttle when the accelerator pedal position sensor is abnormal," states the document, written in Japanese, translated into English.

Read more: http://www.cnn.com/2012/03/01/us/toyota-memo-acceleration-concerns/index.html